Yesteryear

Achille Mauzan: Master of Art Deco Poster Design

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Born in Gap, France, French artist and graphic designer Achille Mauzan (1883–1952) studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon before moving to Italy in 1905, where he built a successful career and celebrated for his vibrant and imaginative Art Deco posters.

Mauzan designed more than 2,000 posters and over 1,000 postcards, working in Milan, Paris, and later Buenos Aires. His style was marked by bold colors, playful humor, and dynamic compositions, often used for film, advertising, and commercial promotions. Influenced by Cubism and the energy of the interwar years, he became one of the most distinctive voices in early 20th-century poster art.

His work remains admired for its wit, visual strength, and lasting contribution to the Art Deco movement. These striking posters showcase the bold imagination, humor, and colorful brilliance of Achille Mauzan, a true master of Art Deco graphic design.

Caffè Sais, 1920

Savon à barbe Ramsgate, Paris, 1920

Burri artificiali misti Ditta Conti, circa 1921

Champagne Victor Clicquot, Reims, 1921

Copertoni Impermeabili, Ettore Moretti, Milano, 1921

Hanni Weisse, One of the Great Film Divas of the Early German Silent Film

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Hanni Weisse (October 16, 1892 – December 13, 1967) was a German stage and film actress. She appeared in 146 films between 1912 and 1942. During the 1910s, Weisse transitioned from a classical musician into one of the earliest great divas of German silent cinema. She rose from performing minor stage and choral roles in Berlin to starring in what critics consider the first true German “art films.”

Weisse began the decade training as a cellist. In 1910, she shifted toward theater, securing an apprenticeship and performing in choral and minor acting roles at the Berlin Thalia Theater and the Luisentheater. By 1912, she joined the ensemble of the Royal Belvedere Dresden, embarking on a national tour across Germany. During this time, film director Max Mack discovered her in Berlin and signed her to a contract with the Vitascope production company.

Weisse made her on-screen debut in Max Mack’s short films in 1912, quickly climbing to leading-lady status. She achieved breakout success starring alongside Albert Bassermann in Der Andere (The Other, 1913). The project is widely recognized by historians as one of the first artistically demanding German films. She remained highly prolific through the mid-1910s, starring in prominent pictures such as Richard Oswald’s wartime drama Das eiserne Kreuz (The Iron Cross, 1914) and Lache Bajazzo (Laugh Bajazzo, 1915).

Weisse closed out the decade establishing her status as a dramatic powerhouse. Notable late-1910s projects included Zwischen zwei Welten (1919) alongside fellow silent film icon Bruno Kastner, the thriller The Spies (1919), and her critically praised performance as an alcoholic mother in E.A. Dupont’s Alcohol (1919). By the end of the 1910s, Weisse was a household name, paving the way for her continued success as a major cinematic star throughout the 1920s.

Andy Warhol Shooting Margaret Hamilton for His “Myths” Series (1981)

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In 1980, Andy Warhol famously photographed Margaret Hamilton using his Polaroid Big Shot camera to create “The Witch,” one of the ten screenprints in his renowned 1981 Myths portfolio.

Instead of hiring a younger model, Warhol invited the 78-year-old Hamilton, who immortalized the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, to his studio, The Factory. Hamilton brought along her original costume from the 1939 film to reprise the legendary role more than 40 years later.

“I saw Margaret Hamilton, the witch in The Wizard of Oz, and got so excited and went over to her and told her how wonderful she was,” he said. “She does the Maxwell House commercials now. She’s really small.”

Charlotte Rampling: The Enigmatic Icon of European Cinema

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Charlotte Rampling (born 1946) is an English actress celebrated for her enigmatic beauty, emotional depth, and daring choice of roles.

Emerging in the mid-1960s as a symbol of Swinging London, Rampling first gained attention in films such as Georgy Girl (1966). She soon became a distinctive presence in European cinema, starring in Luchino Visconti’s The Damned (1969) and Liliana Cavani’s controversial The Night Porter (1974).

Over a career spanning more than six decades, Rampling has worked with major directors across British, French, Italian, and American cinema, earning critical acclaim for performances in 45 Years (2015) and beyond. Known for her cool intensity and fearless screen presence, she remains one of the most compelling and enduring figures of international film.

These striking photos capture the timeless elegance, intensity, and magnetic presence of Charlotte Rampling, an enduring icon of European and world cinema.

Britt Ekland and Marianne Faithfull Rehearsing for August Strindberg’s Play “The Stronger” in April 1971

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Britt Ekland and Marianne Faithfull starred together in a 1971 television adaptation of August Strindberg’s famous 1889 one-act play, The Stronger. Directed by Patrick Garland for the BBC, this psychological drama was broadcast on May 1, 1971, as part of London Weekend Television’s (LWT) arts magazine series, Aquarius.

The play is a famous, short battle of wills that explores themes of love, betrayal, and psychological dominance between two women who are entangled with the same man. The pairing of Ekland and Faithfull, two defining beauty and cultural icons of the 1960s and 1970s, offered a highly compelling and stylish dynamic for the production.

Britt Ekland portrays Woman 1 (Mrs. X) – The talkative, married wife who slowly unpacks her deep-seated insecurities, eventually realizing that the other woman has a psychological hold over her marriage. Marianne Faithfull plays Woman 2 (Miss Y / Amelia) – The mistress, who remains entirely silent throughout the entire confrontation, reacting only through facial expressions, cynical laughter, and quiet amusement.

Before filming, the two actresses generated significant media attention while rehearsing the tense confrontation in Ekland’s London flat. The production remains a notable intersection of late-1960s pop culture icons testing their dramatic chops against a classic piece of avant-garde Scandinavian theater.

30 Stunning Photographs of a Young and Beautiful Jean Peters in the 1940s

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Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000) was an American film actress. In the 1940s, she experienced a rapid, accidental rise from an Ohio college student to a prominent Hollywood leading lady signed with 20th Century Fox. Unlike the typical glamorous starlets of the era, Peters was widely recognized for her down-to-earth persona, intelligence, and tomboyish nature off-screen.

In 1945, while studying educational psychology at Ohio State University with plans to become a teacher, her roommate secretly entered her picture into the Miss Ohio State pageant. Peters won the contest. Her pageant grand prize included a screen test with 20th Century Fox. Executives were immediately taken by her photogenic looks, leading to a seven-year studio contract.

Peters bypassed minor roles entirely, debuting as the female lead opposite Tyrone Power in the lavish Technicolor epic Captain from Castile (1947). Following her debut, Photoplay magazine readers voted her the actress “most likely to become a star” in 1948. She closed out the decade starring in the successful baseball comedy It Happens Every Spring (1949).

Uniquely for a rising Hollywood star, Peters briefly paused her momentum in the late 1940s to return to college between filming blocks to finish her coursework and earn her degree.

Throughout the late 1940s, Peters fought back against Fox’s attempts to typecast her as a conventional, glamorous sex symbol. She regularly expressed disdain for heavily manicured roles, pulling out of the movie I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now (1947) when the studio tried to style her with artificial freckles and horn-rimmed glasses. Her preference for unglamorous, complex, and rugged characters laid the groundwork for her acclaimed work in the early 1950s. It was also during the late 1940s that she first caught the attention of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, whom she would eventually marry in 1957.

Florence Thompson, the Subject of Dorothea Lange’s Iconic 1936 Photograph, Holding a Framed Copy of “Migrant Mother”, 1978

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Florence Owens Thompson, the “Migrant Mother” in Dorothea Lange’s world-famous 1936 photo, holds up her likeness during an interview after her identity was made known on October 10, 1978.

In March 1936, photographer Dorothea Lange was working for the U.S. government’s Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration) to document rural poverty. While driving past a migrant pea-pickers’ camp in Nipomo, California, Lange turned her car around and encountered Thompson.

Thompson, then a 32-year-old mother of seven of Cherokee descent, was stranded at the camp after her family’s car broke down. Lange took a series of frames in a span of just 10 minutes. The final frame, showing a worried Thompson staring into the distance while her children shield their faces, became known as “Migrant Mother.”

Migrant Mother, taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936.

After the photo was published in a San Francisco newspaper, the public outcry prompted the federal government to immediately rush 20,000 pounds of food to the starving pea-pickers’ camp.

Because Lange was working as a government employee, the photo went directly into the public domain. Lange never asked for Thompson’s name, and Thompson never received a single cent in royalties or compensation, even as the photo became a globally recognized masterpiece printed in textbook after textbook.

For over 40 years, the public had no idea who the “Migrant Mother” actually was. Meanwhile, Thompson worked multiple jobs (picking cotton, waitressing, and working in a cannery) to raise her children.

In 1978, a reporter from The Modesto Bee tracked her down to her mobile home in Modesto, California. This specific image was captured during that revelation. Thompson expressed bitter resentment toward the photograph, stating:

“I wish she [Lange] hadn’t taken my picture. I can’t get a penny out of it. She didn’t ask my name. She said she wouldn’t sell the pictures. She said she’d send me a copy. She never did.”

While Thompson initially viewed the photo as a curse that froze her in her lowest moment of poverty, her children felt differently. They grew to be immensely proud of their mother, viewing the image as a monumental tribute to her resilience and the strength of a mother who sacrificed everything to keep her children alive.

Thompson (seated) with three of her daughters (from L. to R.), Katherine, Ruby and Norma, in 1979; 43 years after Migrant Mother.

In August 1983, Thompson suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with cancer, leaving her family with staggering medical bills they could not afford. Her children leveraged her late-in-life fame and issued a public appeal.

Recognizing the woman who had humanized the Great Depression for generations, the American public sent in over $110,000 in donations to cover her medical care. Thompson passed away a month later in September 1983 at the age of 80.

Spooky and Fun: 40 Groovy Photos of a 1980s Halloween Party

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These groovy vintage photos capture the playful spirit of a Halloween party around 1982-83. The images show friends dressed in creative homemade costumes, bright decorations, and the lively energy of a classic decade celebration.

From witches and monsters to pop-culture characters of the era, the photos reflect both the spooky and fun side of the holiday. With big hair, bold makeup, and plenty of laughter, the collection offers a nostalgic glimpse of how Halloween parties looked and felt more than forty years ago.

Guns N’ Roses Members Posing With Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘Terminator’ in 1991

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The collaboration between Guns N’ Roses and Arnold Schwarzenegger for the 1991 single “You Could Be Mine” is one of the most iconic pop-culture crossovers of the 1990s. The track served as the theme song for the blockbuster film Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Director James Cameron wanted a hard-rock track to reflect young John Connor’s (Edward Furlong) rebellious nature. Arnold Schwarzenegger personally invited the band to dinner at his house to negotiate and finalize the deal for the song’s placement in T2. Schwarzenegger himself would comment upon it: “[The band members] have been big, big fans of Terminator and have expressed that many times. And I have been a fan of their music, so we checked into what it will be like to do a video together or to get some of the music.”

Directed by Jeffrey Abelson and Andy Morahan, the video mixes live concert footage of GNR performing at the Ritz in New York City with cinematic narrative scenes. Schwarzenegger’s T-800 character arrives at the venue on a mission to eliminate Guns N’ Roses. After tracking down the band in an alleyway following their set, the Terminator confronts Axl Rose and Slash. He scans the band members, determines that killing them would be a “waste of ammo,” assesses Axl Rose as a non-threat, and walks away into the night while Axl smiles and winks.

In Terminator 2, the song plays early in the film when John Connor rides his dirt bike with a boombox strapped to the back while hiding from his foster parents.

Released in June 1991, the single became a major hit and helped fuel excitement around the film. It was a perfect collision of rock, cinema, and early ’90s culture, an era defined by rebellion, big personalities, and MTV-driven hype.

20 Stunning Portraits of Lillian Gish in the 1920s

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Lillian Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American actress best known for her work in movies of the silent era. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. In the 1920s, Gish reached the pinnacle of her fame as the “First Lady of American Cinema,” solidifying her legacy as one of the most brilliant, technically skilled, and fiercely dedicated stars of the silent film era. Known for her ethereal, delicate appearance, she defied her fragile screen persona by performing her own dangerous stunts and driving the technical and artistic evolution of filmmaking.

Gish began the decade by starring in several masterpieces directed by D. W. Griffith, later moving on to massive independent projects. Filmed during a real 90-mph blizzard, Gish performed one of cinema’s most famous and perilous climaxes in Way Down East (1920). She lay unconscious on a real ice floe drifting toward a waterfall. Wanting the shot to look authentic, she trailed her hair and hand in the freezing river, which caused permanent nerve damage and a lifelong loss of feeling in her hand.

Her final major collaboration with D.W. Griffith was Orphans of the Storm (1921), co-starring her sister Dorothy Gish, set during the French Revolution. Later in the decade, she gave critically acclaimed performances under Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), with The Wind (1928) standing out as one of the final artistic triumphs of the silent era.

Gish was far more than an actress; she was an expert in the mechanics of early filmmaking. In 1920, she stepped behind the camera to direct the feature film Remodeling Her Husband, which starred her sister. Throughout the decade, she remained a highly regarded silent cinema theorist and historian, famously advocating for silent film as a universal visual language, or an “aesthetic Esperanto.”

Visually, Gish bridged the gap between traditional sensibilities and modern glamour. Her portraits from the early 1920s showcase her in flowing, avant-garde designs, such as luxurious Mariano Fortuny gowns, which helped transition film costume design from Victorian-era restraint into expressive modernity.

When synchronized sound (“talkies”) arrived in 1927, the landscape of Hollywood changed overnight. Preferring the poetic expression of silence, Gish chose to exit the Hollywood mainstream at the turn of the decade, returning to her roots on the Broadway stage before making triumphant cinematic comebacks in later decades.